Question: Frequent skiers, how do you do it?

[bounceswoosh]

Wait a minute - I like apples better than cantaloupes. Since when are cantaloupes better?

Back on track. I will be quite honest that I get my days on the mountain by pretty much orienting my life that way. Most of our vacation days go to skiing, with a few to family events. Both cars are AWD with snow tires. I am exhausted much of the winter because I don't get as much rest as I probably need, but the mountain is calling ... I ski through plenty of colds and other malaises. I don't ski as many days as many here, but skiing is definitely my priority in the winter.

 

[altagirl]

That was me posting that, not abc. I think you may have been confusing us. I'm the one who started the thread, and not because I'm juggling family and skiing (I don't have kids) but because I was curious about the experiences of many people here.

Anyway, I like the mountains. I like skiing. I could probably see myself living there one day, at least for a time. I don't think it's insulting to anyone to point out that city life and mountain life are two different things.

This does seem to have gone off the rails a bit. Let's dial it back and just say that everyone's experiences are interesting and that's that, k?

I will confess that I forgot who started the thread by this point too.

Though, hah, I think you have the answer to your question. If you're a self professed big city snob, and have high priorities that require you to spend a lot of your free time in big cities where there isn't any skiing.... you can't also have "skiing really frequently" as a high priority as well. The balance point is wherever you want to put it.

I do think those of us who live in somewhat smaller cities with mountains do get a LITTLE offended anyway by you insisting that you can't have both. Either you're saying our skiing sucks or our city has no culture. I get the stereotypes of Salt Lake City, but.... ouch.

 

[segacs]

Nah. I've never been to Salt Lake City. I hear it's a pretty cool place, though. I'd like to get there one of these days.

And it wasn't so much about me looking for ways to increase my ski day totals. I was just curious, is all.

Anyway, cheers.

 

[Jilly]

Segacs -

https://www.voyagesgendron.com/en/ski/dest_SKI_US_SLC/

 

[Little Lightning]

That might be a tad harsh

I think of the cultural events in the mounatins vs the culture in a major metropoliton area in the same light as skiing in the northeast vs skiing out west (only in reverse). Sure, it's both skiing, and we can have isolated great powder days in the northeast too, but...

if you're a real powder crazy, you know the northeast "chowder" aren't the real stuff. And if you're really into the culture stuff, a few concerts from a touring company in the summer aren't going to cut it either.

I feel I have the best of both worlds here in Colorado. Breckenridge has the National Repertory Orchestra that puts on 50 concerts per summer. Dillon Theatre brings in NYC equity actors for 8 shows, 6 in the winter and 2 repertory in the summers. One year on "Ride the Rockies" we camped by the opera wing of the Aspen high school. Wow, are those kids are exposed to culture. Last week we saw a play called "Grace" at Dillon Theatre on Friday night and "The Legend of Georgia McBride" at the Denver Theatre Complex. The Denver Theatre Complex is considered #2 in the country, it also houses the ballet and symphony. When we saw the Legend of Georgia McBride Evita, the Black Odyssey, and the Symphony were all going on at the same time. Hamlet opens this week. And don't forget Red Rocks. It's been named the best concert venue in the country so many times they named it the "Red Rocks" prize and is given to #2. Many communities in the Denver area put on shows, too. We saw a harp concert at our local theatre.

You bet there are traveling shows here in the mountains. There are a lot of bands and organizations that are happy to get out of the cities and are willing to perform for less money. Here in Summit County there are free concerts on Thurs., Fri. and Sat. there are multiple choices on Sat.

So you can see why I love living here, in both the mountains and the city. I wouldn't live any where else.

 

[segacs]

And don't forget Red Rocks. It's been named the best concert venue in the country so many times they named it the "Red Rocks" prize and is given to #2.

At some point I have GOT to see a concert there.

 

[SkiNana]

Lots of cultural events come to university towns and we have a symphony orchestra as well in Bozeman. The new Warren Miller Cultural center just opened this year and the Big Sky Arts Council holds several big name opera performances, pianists and other skilled musicians each year. Since it's a small community and a dinner concert series, I have had dinner with the performers on a number of occasions. In addition, the "Madrigal Dinner" is put on by the MSU music department in December. There is an excellent Shakespeare in the Parks program all summer as well as a weekly concert series then as well. Lady Antebellum was here last week. Labor Day brings a big name performer to Big Sky and the PBR (rodeo) has become an annual event as well ... perhaps not "culture", more entertainment of the rough and rowdy variety. Nonetheless, no dearth of things to see and hear in the mountains. Plenty of shows, plenty of music, including classical and opera of world class quality. And it's MONTANA!

 

[pinto]

I used to be "more cultured" ... I don't do it so much anymore, but I probably will when I'm done with kids' sports on weekday nights all the time. Something has to give ... we see a few concerts and plays and whatnot per year, but I used to live in Wash DC, and I did it all, from jazz to theatre to symphony, especially symphony ... (in fact I was the secretary and a founding member of NSOvation, the National Symphony Orchestra's junior patrons organization ... yes, I do own a ball gown...) But I wasn't really skiing then, either.

I agree, this isn't NYC or SF when it comes to that stuff, but as RachelV said, it is definitely a balance, and it isn't impossible to see some good companies coming through.

 

[segacs]

How did this become about skiing versus 'culture'? Or, for that matter, how did 'culture' get defined as theatre, music and art solely? I know, I know, we're all masters of digression on these threads. But I don't think that these are the only two choices or legitimate options in life, nor do I think it necessarily has to be a choice.

I suppose it's a little like those debates on whether you can really "have it all". Those are usually about women talking about the struggle to balance career and family. But this is along the same vein. You can ski 100 days a year, or you can do a zillion other things with your spare time and ski only 10 days a year. But you probably can't do both. There are only so many hours in a day, right?

 

[SkiRed]

I think it is about what makes you more happy. Then you put more time into that and less in other things. Maybe somebody can do it all (concerts, museums, opera, skiing, dancing, etc), but I am finding it is hard to improve in any area by doing that.

 

[naskis]

I think it is about what makes you more happy. Then you put more time into that and less in other things.

And for me it varies depending on weather, time of the year and my mood

 

[SkiRed]

Sunny skies and new snow are always calling for skiing, especially in NE

 

[segacs]

Maybe somebody can do it all (concerts, museums, opera, skiing, dancing, etc), but I am finding it is hard to improve in any area by doing that.

That's an excellent point, and it brings up two other interesting discussion questions:

1. How much do you think someone needs to ski per season to really improve?
2. Do you enjoy an activity more when you're constantly improving? Or does it not matter to you all that much?

For me, I think I probably don't concentrate on improving all that much. I just go out there to ski, and on the whole I'm quite happy cruising the groomers. My 10-15 ski days per season usually aren't enough for me to show significant improvement, so I'm sort of in that perpetual intermediate plateau.

On the other hand, the times when I *did* take lessons or do other things to consciously improve and it paid off, it did heighten my enjoyment of the sport by quite a bit. I love skiing a lot more now than I did back when I struggled more with it.

I do a lot of other things just for fun, though, without necessarily being all that good at any of them. For instance, I take classes in improv comedy, last fall I took an intro sewing course, and just for kicks I'm learning basic sign language right now. I'm never going to be an expert in any of those things, but they're all quite fun and -- at least in the case of improv -- make up a big part of my social life, too. I also have a very geeky circle of friends, so we do a lot of board game and "jeux de société" events, baking days and brunches and, oh, occasionally snowshoeing, photography, concerts, you name it.

Basically, I'm game to try just about anything within reason, and my response to an invite to try something new tends to fall into the first rule of improv: "yes, let's!" But it's sort of a mile-wide-inch-deep approach to activities; I do a lot of different things, but none of them particularly intensely or well.

 

[naskis]

Sunny skies and new snow are always calling for skiing, especially in NE

Yes, but if it's too cold and windy, and my DS does not feel like skiing I'm not going to fight it!

 

[deannatoby]

I feel I have the best of both worlds here in Colorado. Breckenridge...

I spent a summer in Colorado as a naive college student. I (naively, as said before) thought Colorado was only a winter place. Breckenridge was a fantastic summer destination. You do have the best of both worlds!

 

[SkiRed]

Yes, but if it's too cold and windy, and my DS does not feel like skiing I'm not going to fight it!

My DH doesn't want to go usually and DS prefers spending time with his friends:( So last several times I just went alone, I liked it, especially the "single" line to the lift

 

[deannatoby]

Yes, but if it's too cold and windy, and my DS does not feel like skiing I'm not going to fight it!

Speaking of cold and windy…this may be one winter where I'm NOT proud of my days on the snow. It's been either FREEEEEEEEEEZING cold (like my 11 yo got frostbite, but no permanent tissue damage) or rainy. Eeeewwww.

Bragging about ski days this winter is kind of like bragging about being a masochist.

 

[segacs]

Bragging about ski days this winter is kind of like bragging about being a masochist.

SO TRUE!!!

 

[SkiRed]

That's an excellent point, and it brings up two other interesting discussion questions:

1. How much do you think someone needs to ski per season to really improve?
2. Do you enjoy an activity more when you're constantly improving? .

I do not know about skiing but I see in my dancing class that people who go 2, 3 or even 4 times a week improve a lot, much faster than me, going just once a week. Not talking about all the social dances they have here. And they are more confident, enjoying it more.
I read somewhere that you have to spend at least, I think, 56 hours (do not remember exact number) on a activity to start fully enjoying it, sort of like second breath.
I also like to try many new things, took a lot of different classes, it is fun, but I also realized that I enjoy more the things that I can improve in.

 

[abc]

I feel I have the best of both worlds here in Colorado...

Good for you.

Having grown up in a mid sized city and moving to NYC, with some years in between living in locale of various size (from college town to "almost metropolitan" San Francisco), I could see quite a bit of truth in segac's "...there's cultural events, then there're culture!" sentiment!

City-snob? Sure. Because there's a legitimate reason where that snob springs from.